The Seattle Times: Microsoft Pri0http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/microsoftpri0/index.html
en-usCopyright 2015 The Seattle Times CompanyFri, 20 Feb 2015 07:30:53 PSTFri, 20 Feb 2015 07:30:53 PSTMattBase1The Seattle Times: Microsoft Pri0http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/art/ui/stlogo_231.gifhttp://seattletimes.nwsource.com/
Pri0 has moved http://blogs.seattletimes.com/microsoftpri0/2015/02/20/pri0-has-moved/?syndication=rss
<p><div>With the launch of our updated website, blogs at seattletimes.com have moved. We'll still be posting Microsoft-related news and analysis, which you can find <a href="http://www.seattletimes.com/author/matt-day/">here</a>. As always, happy to hear comments, tips and suggestions at mday@seattletimes.com.</div></p>
Microsoft Pri0http://blogs.seattletimes.com/microsoftpri0/2015/02/20/pri0-has-moved/?syndication=rssFri, 20 Feb 2015 07:30:52 PSTAmazon still has wide lead in the cloud, but Microsoft gaininghttp://blogs.seattletimes.com/microsoftpri0/2015/02/18/amazon-still-has-wide-lead-in-the-cloud-but-microsoft-gaining/?syndication=rss
<p>Amazon.com's cloud-computing unit is still a world beater. Microsoft is doing its best to entrench itself in second place.</p>
<p>RightScale, a California company that helps information technology departments manage their use of cloud-computing services, on Wednesday released the results of its <a href="http://www.rightscale.com/lp/2015-state-of-the-cloud-report?campaign=701700000012UP1" target="_blank">survey</a> of more than 900 of corporate technology experts.</p>
<p>Among companies that tap into the "public cloud," or pooled servers and data storage units accessed via the Web, 57 percent reported using Amazon Web Services. Microsoft's cloud-computing platform, Azure, was a distant second at 12 percent.</p>
<p>There are two bright spots for the Redmond company in that figure. It's double the 6 percent share Azure had when the survey was conducted a year ago. And Azure's Platform as a Service (PaaS) product, which is primarily used by developers to write programs and web sites, was the fourth most widely used cloud service.</p>
<p>The industry divides cloud-computing products into three broad categories with unwieldy acronyms. PaaS, infrastructure as a service (IaaS), or the plumbing-like services such as data storage and server processing power, and software as a service (SaaS), which refers to Web-accessed software like Office 365.</p>
<p>RightScale's survey also shows the strides Microsoft is making among large businesses.</p>
<p>Amazon was years ahead in building the server farms and other infrastructure that underpin the cloud. In its bid to catch up, Microsoft has been leaning on its relationships with corporations. After all, most IT departments already buy Windows, Office, server products, or something else built by Microsoft.</p>
<p>Among businesses with more than 1,000 employees, usage of Microsoft's Azure IaaS and PaaS was second and third behind Amazon.</p>
<p>RightScale's survey also documents companies' increasing acceptance of cloud-accessed servers as replacements for some of their own hardware. Fully 90 percent of respondents said their companies were already using some form of cloud services or planning on it.</p>
<p>One caveat, however: the survey, conducted as it was by a cloud-computing management company, likely represents a group of more eager adopters of new technology than the corporate universe as a whole. More details on RightScale's methodology and findings are in its <a href="http://www.rightscale.com/lp/2015-state-of-the-cloud-report?campaign=701700000012UP1" target="_blank">full report</a>.</p>
Microsoft Pri0http://blogs.seattletimes.com/microsoftpri0/2015/02/18/amazon-still-has-wide-lead-in-the-cloud-but-microsoft-gaining/?syndication=rssWed, 18 Feb 2015 22:09:24 PSTMicrosoft, Apple, broaden access to their productivity appshttp://blogs.seattletimes.com/microsoftpri0/2015/02/17/microsoft-apple-broaden-access-to-their-productivity-apps/?syndication=rss
<p>Cooperation is the word of the day in office applications.</p>
<p>Apple recently <a href="http://www.theverge.com/2015/2/15/8043569/iwork-apps-apple-now-available-android-windows" target="_blank">opened up</a> its iWork word processing and spreadsheet applications to consumers who don't own an iPhone or Mac. On Tuesday, Microsoft continued its own effort to broaden the reach of Office, announcing that users of the productivity suite on Apple devices will be able to store their documents with a variety of cloud storage providers.</p>
<p>"We want Office to be the preferred way to work with documents no matter where they’re stored," Microsoft's Kirk Koenigsbauer said in a blog post.</p>
<p>Koenigsbauer also announced a program allowing users of cloud services like Citrix, Salesforce.com and Box to edit and save Office files stored on those platforms.</p>
<p>The moves are the latest in Microsoft's recent habit of striking deals with competitors in an effort to broaden the use of its products.</p>
<p>Microsoft in November announced that Office users could save their data with popular cloud provider Dropbox, a competitor of Microsoft's own OneDrive. The company also released free versions of Office for Apple and Google smartphones and tablets.</p>
Microsoft Pri0http://blogs.seattletimes.com/microsoftpri0/2015/02/17/microsoft-apple-broaden-access-to-their-productivity-apps/?syndication=rssWed, 18 Feb 2015 21:38:36 PST